Tourism services quality (TourServQual) in Egypt The viewpoints of external and internal customers

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1 The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at wwwemeraldinsightcom/ htm Tourism services quality (TourServQual) in Egypt The viewpoints of external and internal customers Mohammed I Eraqi Tourism Studies Department, Faculty of Tourism & Hotels, Cairo University, Egypt Tourism services quality in Egypt 469 Abstract Purpose This research paper aims is to evaluate the customer s views related to tourism quality in Egypt It attempts to measure the extent to which tourism business environment is creative and innovative as necessary conditions for internal customer satisfaction Design/methodology/approach The objectives of this research have been achieved through reviewing a number of literatures in the fields of services quality management and tourism quality measurements The paper s outcomes have been obtained through two surveys, one to measure the satisfaction of the internal customer (employees) and the second to measure the external customer satisfaction (tourists) Findings The main conclusions of this research paper are: quality can be considered as a philosophy for guiding tourism organization/destination when taking decisions related to tourism services; tourism business environment in Egypt does not support the internal customer satisfaction because the absence of a suitable system for encouraging people to be creative and innovative; and in the area of the external customer satisfaction there is still a need for things to be done such as the environmental conditions improvements, internal transport quality enhancement, increasing people awareness, and improving the level of safety and security conditions Research limitations/implications There is a number of limitations which faced this paper research they are: the sample size is small, compared with the size of total population, that was reflected on the level of reliability of the research results; and the limited time allowed to the respondents was reflected on the validity of the research outcomes, because they interviewed at the last time of their journey by the time they are ready for departure Practical implications A useful source of information about total quality management (TQM) and how practitioners can measure it It provides wide guidelines for improving the quality of tourism services in total manner in Egypt Originality/value This paper provides useful information that are needed for tourism services quality improvement It offers a practical help to tourism planners and marketers in Egypt to understand the concept of TQM and how they can improve their services continually Keywords Tourism, Quality, Customer satisfaction, Egypt Paper type Research paper Introduction The complexity and globalisation of today s competitive business environments have made quality as one of the most important sources of competitive advantage for the tourism business enterprise/destination Many leading quality organisations have started to exploit opportunities to face this situation and recognized the importance to have systematic processes to manage quality to gain and maintain this competitive position Each business management is aware of the fierce competition in every sector Benchmarking: An International Journal Vol 13 No 4, 2006 pp q Emerald Group Publishing Limited DOI /

2 BIJ 13,4 470 and customer expectations have never been greater It is no longer sufficient just to maintain a business; it is necessary to move forward if a business wants to achieve a sustainable future Customer care, improvements in efficiency, effective marketing, benchmarking, staff training and development are all vital for survival and competitiveness in a changeable business environment To improve, means to change, and change can be stressful There is no magic formula that can be applied to every business, but there are proven systems, such as quality management that can bring great benefits if it is applied in the right way For business to be successful, the motivation to develop and implement a quality management system must be based on a clear understanding of the business aims and objectives Whatever the size of the organisation and whatever the type of business, management will appreciate just how important quality is to the organization/destination s continued success After all, the term quality frequently leads to misunderstanding A better understanding of the term is essential, particularly if the quality has been seen from a strategic viewpoint However, the term quality has come to take on a broader meaning in the management of organisations The total quality management (TQM) movement and other management philosophies have focused on the fitness of final products and services for stakeholders, have emphasised not only the product quality, but also the need to build quality into the production and delivery processes of the organisation and have stressed the importance of employee involvement in process redesign and commitment to the improvement of the final tourism product or service Tourism as a business is asserting itself as the engine of Egypt s economic development In 1982 Egypt hosted about one million visitors By 2003, that figure has risen to 60 million visitors and it has continued to rise, despite the political turbulence of the last few years Egypt s tourist facilities and destinations are able to compete well by following tourism quality standards and sustainable tourism models Owing to the customer-oriented service endeavours, tourism enterprises, either private or public, need to improve service offerings by determining the needs of their target groups Exploring the current ratings of customer expectations and customer perceptions on specific service attributes provides a tool for management in order to improve the service quality of the firm Within this context, this study aims at determining the current service quality level of tourism services in Egypt This paper endeavors to evaluate the customer overview related to tourism quality in Egypt Also, measuring the extent to which tourism business environment in Egypt is creative and innovative Quality definitions and implication Quality in service industries has both static and dynamic dimensions (Day and Peters, 1994) The static dimension represents the expectation of the customers, that always changes over time as extra facilities such as in-flight meals become the rule rather than the exception Dynamic dimension of quality occurs during service delivery and offers opportunities for the customer to be delighted by the extra efforts of staff to, for example, address the customer tangible product which is a primary cause of customer dissatisfaction, but dynamic quality is not achieved easily By definition, spontaneous acts of dynamic quality, cannot be pre-arranged or scripted, but are nevertheless an important means of customer satisfaction (Ingram et al, 1997)

3 There are many definitions and implications for the quality as a concept The main definitions and implications are summarised in Table I Whatever the definition of quality is, for success in a highly competitive tourism market, a tourism enterprise/destination has to make sure it is providing the goods or services that the customer wants; it gets its quality right; and that it delivers on time This leads to customer satisfaction and achieving a suitable level of profits Quality in service delivery leads to more repeated visits and greater sales revenue This enables serving staff on performance-related pay to earn more and enhance the quality of their service to the customer In addition, the extra profit generated enables tourism enterprise/destination management to invest in upgrading facilities to the customer and in training schemes beside creating innovative business environment for tourism services improvement The philosophy of quality Deregulation and globalization have increased competitive pressures, helping to bring down prices and to improve the quality of services provided by professional tourism enterprises/destinations From this standpoint, what it is needed is to enforce compliance with safety and environmental regulations and new working conditions The 1980s witnessed many service industries placing increased emphasis on managing quality Traditional ideas of quality, which had evolved from manufacturing industries and had been based on the conformance to the standards defined by operation management, began to be replaced by customer-focused notions This required close consideration of what the customer wanted and how their needs could be met Different dimensions of service were defined and customer satisfaction, considered to be the gab between perceived and expected service, was assessed Quality management began to be viewed as an overall process which involved everybody from top management down to junior staff rather than just to do with concentrating on the employee-customer interaction New approaches such as TQM and the continuous improvement programmes began to be applied by an increasing number of service industries (Souty, 2003; Lockwood and Guerrier, 1989) However, the source of competitive advantage is found firstly in the ability of the organization to differentiate itself, in the eyes of the consumer, from its competitors and secondly by operating at a lower cost and hence at greater profit This requires examining consumer service under three conditions (Lalonde and Zinszer, 1976): (1) pre-transaction elements; (2) transaction elements; and (3) post-transaction elements Quality of service attracts new customers and ensures consumer retention Consumer retention provides a higher profit contribution and has to grow in terms of the value and frequency of purchases The importance of customer retention is underlined by the concept of the lifetime value of a customer The life time value of a customer is calculated as follows (Christopher, 1998): Life time value ¼ average transaction value yearly frequency of purchase customer life expectancy A successful business would better serve its shareholders needs by focusing on customers, employees, suppliers and the wider community (Mann et al, 1999) Tourism services quality in Egypt 471

4 BIJ 13,4 472 Table I Quality definitions and implications Source Definition Implications Quality has two parts: (1) its inherent characteristics (2) a standard of excellence The degree or level of excellence; characteristic; something that is special about in a person or thing The Oxford Dictionary (Ingram et al, 1997) The implication of this definition is that quality has to resolve the user s actual or perceived needs The British Standards Institute (1987) Juran (1980) Quality is the fitness for purpose or use Quality is judged by its ability to meet needs Quality is the totality of features and characteristics of a product or service that bear on its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs Quality is judged positively and negatively compared to the expectation Quality is the conformance to specifications and the relative absence of defects Ernst and Young (Ingram et al, 1997) Feigenbaum (1983) Oakland (1989) Quality is simply meeting the requirements Quality has to be equal to the demands place upon it Quality is derived through a range of processes which transform the end product or service Quality is the total composite product and service characteristics of marketing; engineering; manufacture; and maintenance through which the product and service in use will meet the expectation by customer Quality is a predictable degree of uniformity and dependability at low cost and suited to the market Quality is also measured on a cost/benefit basis Deming (1982) Dodwell and Simmons (1994) Quality is concerned with delighting the customer The final test of quality is a subjective one Quality is rather like pornography in this respect It may not be easy defined, but it is known when it is seen Day and Peters (1994) Quality has three components: (1) internal customer satisfaction (2) external customer satisfaction (3) the efficiency of processes Quality as a concept is considered as a philosophy overwhelmed the organisation management It is a continuous improvement Eraqi (2002) Source: Adapted from Ingram et al (1997)

5 Culture management is an important aspect of leadership and plays a great role in creating positive business environment for innovating and changing to the best This is vital to continuous improvements It deals with the ability of leaders to know and understand what the organization culture is, modifying that culture to meet the needs of the organization as it progresses Organizations that have tried to proactively exploit new opportunities in the environment experienced successful culture change (Baron, 1995; Horner, 1997) The development of employees empowerment and autonomy beside their participations in decision-making process are very important for ensuring tourism quality As Hamel and Prahalad (1993, p 76) have commented long term competitiveness depends on manager s willingness to challenge continually their managerial frame to maximize their benefits from the new opportunities and minimize the negative effects This needs to create an atmosphere of generosity, freedom and safety in which innovation can flourish Effective knowledge management is essential to innovation and it also needs an atmosphere of generosity, freedom and safety if it is to act as the river on which innovation can sail (Brand, 1998, p 17) For example, The Ritz-Carlton fosters a work environment where diversity is valued, quality of life is enhanced, individual aspiration are fulfilled, and The Ritz-Carlton mystique is strengthened The Ritz-Carlton pledges to provide excellent personal service and facilities for its customers who will always enjoy a warm, relaxed yet refined ambience Customization has begun to play an important role in the tourism industry Tourism operators are attempting to gain a competitive edge by catering for the individual needs of clients The tourist product has thus been transformed over time from being completely dominated by mass tourism to an industry that is quite diversified and caters more to the individual needs of its participants, for example, the niche market has become an important factor in the tourism industry reflecting the need to diversify and customize the industry and ensure the sustainability of the product the main nich markets such as sports travel, spa and health care, adventure and nature tourism, cultural tourism, theme parks, cruise ships, religious travel and others hold great potential and are developing rapidly So, suppliers will have to pay more attention to the way people think, feel and behave than they have done hitherto The increased travel experience, flexibility and independent nature of the new tourists are generating demand for better quality, more value for money and greater flexibility in the travel experience In general terms, customer satisfaction is seen as the essential determinant of business success (Moore et al, 1998) On the other hand, as the competition has increased, service quality has been identified as a determinant of market share, return on investment and cost reduction; thus it is seen as critical to corporate success (Burch et al, 1995) There are three essential factors that have forced the firms focusing on quality (Lockwood, 1994) These are: the style of offering the goods and services; technological developments providing new service challenges, although the personal contact is highly valued as an important theme; and, finally, increase in competition and international markets Within this context, evaluating service quality offered to customers is essential, and several evaluation models have been developed (Parasuraman et al, 1985; Cronin and Taylor, 1992; Cheung and Law, 1998) The most known and used models are SERVQUAL, SERVPERF, TQS and ISQM The widely used model is SERVQUAL developed by Parasuraman et al (1985) Tourism services quality in Egypt 473

6 BIJ 13,4 474 The SERVQUAL model consists of 22 items on service attributes, which are grouped along the five dimensions of tangibles, reliability, assurance, responsiveness, and empathy On the other hand, the SERVPERF model developed by Cronin and Taylor (1992) includes these 22 items of SERVQUAL What are additional in the SERVPERF model are the overall ratings of satisfaction, perceived service quality and purchasing intention The main difference between SERVQUAL and SERVPERF is the focus of SERVPERF underlying the fact that customer satisfaction is the result of (mostly) service quality As the case is based on public services and firms/institutions, the current structure mainly bureaucratic is not compatible with the implementation of quality The centralized organizational structure of public firms retains new incentives to be conducted Thus, the efforts of managers of these firms play important roles in applying service quality incentives Tourism product quality Tourism is a highly competitive industry, and tourism enterprise sector can no longer compete on the basis of cost alone Quality is, therefore, a key element for the competitiveness of the tourism industry It is also important for the sustainable tourism development of the industry and for creating and improving jobs Therefore, promoting quality in tourism and tourist products is a priority in different tourism activities However, the main reasons behind the complexity of measuring quality in tourism could be summarized as follows (CEC, 2001): First there is the continuation of significant growth in tourism demand and the volume of tourism in tourist destinations, along with diverging developments in the various types of tourism An appropriate response to these changes may be found only through the emergence of new types of tourism and control mass tourism for the sake of quality The lack of skilled manpower for certain jobs, mainly because of the working conditions that may not encourage creative and innovation; the development of transport and its effect on flows, service quality, sustainable development and environmental protection; and the adoption and incorporation of new information and communication technologies as a factor of competitiveness Tourism is a service sector with a particularly complex product which depends on an extremely fragmented supply Each link in the tourism value chain (travel agencies, tour operators, carriers, hoteliers, restaurateurs, etc) offers one element in the overall product Together, these components determine tourists experiences and their appreciation of the quality of the service The tourist destination is the main place of consumption of tourist services and, therefore, the location and place of activity of tourist businesses Tourists identify the product with both the businesses providing a service and the destination visited For a big number of people tourism activity does not meet a vital need, tourist behaviour is particularly volatile and subject to psychological and social influences, personal sensitivities and short-term reactions If the image of just one link in the chain is affected, it is the whole tourism value chain that suffers the consequences The foot-and-mouth epidemic and the various oil slicks that have affected European coastlines in the recent past have already shown

7 the negative effect of a current event on the image of a tourist destination or region, to the immediate detriment of the tourism industry The tourism product is extremely diverse Natural and cultural resources, tourist facilities, the communications infrastructure, accommodation and restaurants are the basic resources of a tourist destination The combination of local tourism resources and the services offered determines the type of tourism to which a destination belongs, such as coastal or mountain tourism, sport or religious tourism, thermal or gastronomic tourism and, of course, business tourism In addition, vertical interdependence between tourism businesses is more pronounced than in most other sectors of the economy Such interdependence, which also exists at world level, results in what are sometimes complex structures and trends in commercial relations Apart from businesses and their representative organisations, destinations, with their different activities, combining public and private interests, are important stakeholders Because of its diversity and fragmented nature, the tourism sector has no clear identity This may, in part, explain why tourism has featured little at a political level, compared with its economic and social importance The diversity of the business environment and the public and private stakeholders involved in tourism, its effect on many other economic activities, its very wide social and emotional dimension and the geographically dispersed and very variable consumption of the product mean that tourism is of a very pronounced horizontal nature A large number, if not the majority, of political fields may directly affect it considerably, such as those for enterprise, transport and regional development The annual report on community measures affecting tourism, which the commission drew up at the same time as this communication, provides detailed information on this subject For tourism organization, to deal with these challenges successfully and to be able to measure quality in tourism, it is necessary to take the following factors into consideration when deciding tourism quality strategy: the fundamental role of information, knowledge and its dissemination; the need for competent human resources motivated by medium and long-term prospects; the integration of environmental policy and the promotion of sustainable tourism; recognition of the need for European harmonization of the concept of quality of tourism services and infrastructures, and its assessment and monitoring; the need to speed up the integration of information society tools and services in all tourism activities and businesses, in particular SMEs; the need for a network of the stakeholders involved and a generalized partnership, particularly between those in the field to ensure implementation of all the recommendations; and Tourism services quality in Egypt 475

8 BIJ 13,4 476 overall, the quality and satisfaction levels are average Education for managers and service personnel is the main proposal for the improvement in service quality and consumer satisfaction Tourism quality requirements According to world tourism organization program quality in tourism could be defined as: the result of a process which implies the satisfaction of all the legitimate product and service needs, requirements and expectations of the consumer, at an acceptable price, in conformity with the underlying quality determinants such as safety and security, hygiene, accessibility, transparency, authenticity and harmony of the tourism activity concerned with its human and natural environment This definition could be summarized in what is called consumer value equation (Fitzsimmons and Fitzsimmons, 2001): Value ¼ ðresults produced for the customer þ Process qualityþ ðprice to the customer þ Costs of acquiring the servicesþ The analysis of each term used in this definition suggests concrete actions which can be evaluated from the perspective of quality criteria (Myburgh, 2001; WTO, 1991, 1993, 1995): Result implies that quality is attained and perceived at a given time It cannot be in place without harmonious and active engagement of all the factors intervening in tourism experience The result can be measured by consumer satisfaction as well as by social, environmental and economic effects of the tourism activity concerned Process means that a single undertaking is not sufficient to attain quality Work towards quality always has to be in place, it cannot discontinue because of the temporarily attained quality result It also implies a seamless or flawless process in which it is possible to identify and do away with the constrains of a supply which spoil the tourism product and are responsible for direct and indirect losses to the company or destination Also it is necessary to note that because the customer is a participant in the service delivery, improvement in process quality must be acceptable to customers Satisfaction introduces the elements of subjectivity in quality perception According to their characteristics, customers have different requirements and expectations Informed quality-driven marketing caters to these characteristics and attempts to identify consumers according to the different types and levels of perceived quality This should be achieved with suitable prices levels Legitimate brings into the analysis the elements of rights and entitlement Consumers cannot expect to receive more than what they remunerate by payment or what has been determined by social and environmental limits The role of tourism planners and entrepreneurs is to relate quality types and levels to remuneration and external limitations, taking into consideration the private and social costs relating to providing or offering tourism services

9 The notion of needs follows on the concern for legitimacy and looks for satisfying people s basic and vital needs which should never be overlooked while bringing into tourism projects and programmes the other aspects with a view to introducing attractions, strengthening experiences, etc The needs are primarily related to the underlying quality determinants, although over time the expectations related to the type and volume of basic needs change and usually increase Basic needs of the past are not exactly the basic needs of today The notion of product requirements emphasizes the need to relate a single service and facility use to the whole product and the total tourism experience One good quality service is not sufficient to give rise to tourism product quality perception, although an excellent service may positively impress the consumer to make him or her close their eyes to shortcomings and defects experienced elsewhere in the tourism product The term service requirements relates quality to its human, personal and personnel dimensions which are often intangible and apparently difficult to measure, evaluate and quantify in contrast with the physical attributes of tourism facilities which are used primarily in facility classifications or grading However, certain service elements are quantifiable, for example, waiting time, frequency of service (eg cleaning), the number and type of services included in the basic price, etc The term expectations relates to the requirement of positive communication and perception of the product characteristics to the potential consumer There should be no negative surprises at the time of delivery of a service or supply of a product, the consumer must receive what has been promised (or even more) Expectations should also be legitimate, there are limits to expectations, some expectations cannot be fulfilled even at a very high price which can be offered The term consumer relates to individual (end) consumers, who may include groups of people (eg a family), corporate consumers (eg a company purchasing an incentive trip) and commercial intermediaries (eg a tour operator) The latter may request that the product quality be assessed and certified by its own representative or a recognized external third party Acceptable price suggests that the client s expectations reflected in the price cannot be attained at any cost, and that positive surprises should not be too generous, otherwise this may imply excessive allocation of resources which do not receive adequate remuneration If quality is guaranteed and the product is exceptional, there should be no expectation that it should be sold cheap The underlying quality determinants suggest that there should be common, irrevocable criteria of quality which are vital for the consumer independently of category or class of the product, establishment, facility or service sophistication They establish the minimum level of consumer protection under which quality, or total quality, is impossible to achieve, or when failing to meet any of such determinants will significantly reduce the quality of tourism experience Tourism quality standards World Tourism Organisation (WTO, 2003) has designed six standards for tourist product or service that have to be put into consideration when tourism Tourism services quality in Egypt 477

10 BIJ 13,4 478 enterprise/destination management is taking decision related to tourism product design and marketing These standards could be summarized as follows: (1) Safety and security A tourism product or service cannot represent danger to life, damage to health and other vital interests and integrity of the consumer (even if we talk about adventure tourism ) Safety and security standards are normally established by law (eg by fire prevention regulations) and should be considered as quality standards per se (2) Hygiene For example, an accommodation facility just has to be safe and clean, one cannot pretend that such requirements are more important to high-class establishments Food safety standards (often also established by law) must be met and be common to all types of food outlets, from street vendors to luxury gourmet restaurants to airline catering (3) Accessibility This determinant requires that physical, communication and service barriers must be done away with to allow, without discrimination, the use of mainstream tourism products and services by all people irrespective of their natural and acquired differences, including people with disabilities (4) Transparency It is a key element to provide for legitimacy of expectations and consumer protection It relates to providing and effectively communicating truthful information on the characteristics and coverage of the product and its total price In includes to state what is covered by the price and what is not in the product on supply (5) Authenticity In a commercial world, authenticity is the hardest and most subjective quality determinant to attain It also has marketing and competition dimensions Authenticity is culturally determined and one of its results is making the product markedly distinct from other similar products Authenticity must meet consumer expectations It diminishes and eventually terminates when the product loses its links with its cultural and natural background In this sense, a genuine ethnic restaurant can never be entirely authentic in a place distinct from its original setting This does not mean that such an establishment cannot be an attraction and that it cannot be assessed from the viewpoint of quality with respect to production (content and design), marketing, distribution, sale and delivery of the service concerned A theme park representing other lands and far away cultures is a good example of an initially artificial tourism product which may create an authenticity and a quality image of its own On the other hand, an authentic product can also develop and adapt to needs and expectations (6) Harmony Harmony with the human and natural environment pertains to sustainability which is a medium- and long-term concept Maintaining the sustainability of tourism requires managing environmental and socio-economic impacts, establishing environmental indicators and maintaining the quality of the tourism products and tourist markets (WTO Guide for Local Authorities on Developing Sustainable Tourism (WTO, 2003)) There can be no sustainability without quality Quality should be implemented through a comprehensive system under the condition of consistency and harmony for the quality system components or its subsystems (value chain components)

11 Value creation management The creation of value is managed through what is called supply chain or value chain (Dumond, 2000), which refers to a series of integrated, dependent processes and activities within/outside a tourism business enterprise through which value is transferred to the final customers This new managerial system for managing the value creation processes concentrates on: create improvements in the tourism product or service that increase the tourist s sense of its worth; or reduce operation costs through the chain It is necessary to involve the customer in internal operations by incorporating customer feedback into improving tourism product/service or process quality, placing customers on internal teams or linking them into the company s information system Also involvement of the suppliers in the tourism company s operations is equally essential in value management These procedures give the tourism enterprise/destination the opportunity to gain a competitive advantage and improve its product/service quality by: responding quickly to customers needs and requirements with new ideas and technologies; anticipating and tailoring product/service according to what exactly customers demand characteristics are; and personalizing the tourism product/service provided However, meeting customer expectations is not enough to be a world class organizations A world class organization expands on these expectations to the levels that competitors find difficult to meet Management is proactive in promoting higher standards of performance and identifying new business opportunities by listening to customers World class service organization such as Disney, Marriott, and American Airlines define the quality standards by which others are judged Quality system management Quality has become a major interest of public and private tourism business enterprises, according to the tourism market evolution, in terms of both supply of new tourism services and the increasing complexity of tourists demand Such a crucial issue requires a comprehensive approach and a more definite integration among all the factors involved in tourism Policies improving the quality of tourism services production and delivery should be matched with both the features of the destination and the explicit/implicit customers expectation It is only through this synergy that competition, rising from the value of global supply and its perception and evaluation by clients, can be met and challenged An integrated approach to quality management is necessary because so many different elements affect the tourist s perception of a destination (such as transport, accommodation, information, attractions, the environment, etc) Integrated quality management needs to take into account tourist businesses, tourists interests, the local population and the environment, and to have a positive impact on all of them Tourism services quality in Egypt 479

12 BIJ 13,4 480 It is not sufficient to inspect, control, or assure quality in order to achieve customer satisfaction TQM requires the application of quality management rules and principles to every component and at every level of the organization Everyone should be committed to continuous improvement in their part of the operation Through this participation and commitment, with the use of different tools and techniques that the TQM concept has adopted or developed, quality can be managed effectively As a result the quality system will be capable to minimize errors, to ensure continuous improvement leading to excellence and to delight the customer (Augustyn, 1998; Creech, 1994; Juran, 1964) Recent researchers and experts have proved that the concept of TQM is currently the best possible strategy for building quality management system to achieve or gain competitive advantage through achieving customer satisfaction (Wilson et al, 1995; Eraqi, 2002) However, from the view points of relationships between the quality system s subsystems, there are some shortages they are: Lack of advanced processes as a result they are based on the use of basic quality management methods that have been developed at the lowest level of inspection and quality control by setting basic quality objectives and standards depending on basic statistics In some cases quality assurance instruments techniques have been applied like certificates and rewards Lack of comprehensiveness because quality management techniques are applied in a selective manner without taking TQM concepts as a comprehensive philosophy These quality-management processes have inadequate tools of monitoring and feedback Lack of consistency, inconsistency results from the incompatibility of subsystems objectives with the quality objectives of the whole system For example, a room of top quality standard as a hotel X objective, is not in a position to compensate the unfriendly and inhospitable behaviour of the hotel staff Several small tourism enterprises base their processes on the concept of inspection or quality control, independently of the national or regional quality requirements In view of the fact that the great majority of public and private tourism organizations are aware of and interested in quality improvement in tourism, the employment of inappropriate tourism quality systems has been associated with the major source of current quality problems in tourism These problems are reflected in an increasing number of customers dissatisfied with their total tourism experience The lack and incapability of securing an advanced, comprehensive, and consistent quality-management process constitutes the major weakness of tourism quality systems Shortcomings in the systems inputs and its relations with the suppliers make it impossible for the quality systems of individual tourism enterprises to close the quality perception gap and quality control gap None of the existing tourism quality systems is in a position to introduce the required changes that would enable them to conform to the conditions of tourism quality enhancement Therefore, a new tourism quality system, based on co-operative links among private, public and voluntary organizations and operating within a tourism destination area, has been proposed The establishment of a total quality tourism consortium, TQTC, within the framework of this system enables quality enhancement inasmuch as the TQTC is in a position to:

13 secure adequate inputs and close the tourism quality perception gap; develop an advanced, comprehensive and consistent quality-management process that converts the inputs into outputs (total quality tourism products); and manage effectively the relationships with the external environment and the suppliers in particular with the result of bridging the tourism quality control gap The conceptual model of service quality (SERVQUAL), developed by Parasuraman et al (1990), is regarded as an important tool for identifying quality improvement areas within individual service organisations in relation to enhancing customer satisfaction The model measures tangible and intangible elements of the service and investigates gaps in the customer-supplier chain to highlight target areas where quality may be improved These gaps include the gap between: customers expectations and management s perceptions of customers expectations; management s perceptions of customers expectations and service quality specifications; service quality specifications and service delivery; service delivery and external communications to customers; and customers expectations and perceived services The success of SERVQUAL as a concept depends, however, on circumstances in which a tourism destination area attempts to survive, grow and improve the quality of tourist products or services Tourism services quality in Egypt 481 Policies for tourism quality continuous improvements Quality is the perception by the tourist of the extent to which his expectations are met by his experience of the product Quality is not to be equated to luxury, and must not be exclusive, but must be available to all tourists, including those who are with special needs The tourist product should be seen as the destination and process resulting in the tourist s overall experience The key stakeholders are organisations fulfilling the roles of: policy makers, destination management and quality control; suppliers of tourist sub-products; commercial intermediaries; training suppliers; the guests, and the host population The assessment of the contribution of relevant community policies and programmes to quality in tourism revealed the following policy areas as particularly relevant to quality development: structural policies; consumer protection; environmental policies; transport and enterprise policies Of these, the structural funds offered the most potential to directly influence quality improvement in tourism There are four priority areas requiring specific efforts, they are: (1) Indicators for the measurement of the quality improvement process Quality improvement is a cyclical and continuing process, and as such must be able to be measured and evaluated A list of appropriate indicators is regarded as a management tool for use by those who are responsible for the different aspects of quality improvement, eg destination management

14 BIJ 13,4 482 (2) Benchmarking Benchmarking of destinations will help to ensure quality improvement and could benefit from common quality indicators It should be a voluntary exercise, led by the destinations, supported by information-exchange procedures based on networking (3) Non-financial support for tourism SMEs implementing quality systems Eg consultancy, business advice, flora and fauna, etc should be improved to encourage adoption of a quality approach, this in preference to direct financial aid, which risks distorting local competition (4) More intensive use of structural funds to improve the quality of tourist products The structural funds should concentrate resources on creating the framework for tourism business development, rather than supporting individual enterprises or destinations, (eg through training, infrastructure improvement, non-financial business support) Tourism authorities should be actively integrated into the implementation and operation of structural fund programmes There is a need for better dissemination of information on the operation of structural funds programmes throughout the tourism industry Tourism services quality in Egypt On the basis of the above analysis, quality can be considered as a philosophy for guiding tourism business managers in taking their managerial decisions on the level of all tourism enterprise/destination s departments For achieving tourism services quality (TServQual) tourism organization management has to ensure that fulfilment of three requirements: (1) internal customer satisfaction; (2) external customer satisfaction;quality-management process; and (3) achieving the efficiency of processes In the context of this philosophy of quality, this paper depends on the first two factors for evaluating TServQual in Egypt, from the view points of the internal customers (employees) and the external customers (tourists) assuming that the efficiency of processes has been fulfilled Research methodology The research sample frame is based on two groups The first one is the number of direct employees in the Egyptian tourism sector which amounted to 12 million employees in the year 2001 (ETF, 2001) The second is the number of departures at Cairo Airport which amounted to 252,000 in average per month (Egypt, 2001) Sample size of the first group is 500 employees and 700 tourists for the second group These two samples sizes have been decided according to the outcomes of discussions with tourism experts from the Tourism Training and Research Department (TTRD) of Ministry of Tourism There are two questionnaires, one for the employees to measure the internal customer satisfaction indicators (employee satisfaction) The other questionnaire is designed for tourists to measure the external customer satisfaction level (tourist satisfaction) The questions of both questionnaires have been chosen according to the output points of two pilot studies and discussion with ten tourism experts from the tourism experts from the TTRD Data has been collected through distributing 500

15 questionnaires among employees from 50 Egyptian tourist companies who have worked in the tourism sector for at least two years Among tourists at Cairo Airport and the Egyptian Museum, 700 questionnaires have been distributed The questions of both questionnaires have been designed based on the outcome of reviewing the relevant literature and with the help of the experts of TTRD The two samples items (employees and tourists) have been chosen randomly Likert scale has been used to measure the indicators of employee satisfaction This scale involves a serious of questions or statements related to the attitude in question The respondent is required to indicate degree of agreement or disagreement with each of these statements, and responses are given a numerical score that will consistently reflect the direction of the person s attitudes on each question/statement The respondent s total score is computed by summing scores for all statement and the final measure depends on the percentage of each indicator (Kinnear and Taylor, 1991) Based on Likert scale it has been suggested three options (good, fair, and weak) for each question/statement to measure the external customer satisfaction Questionnaires have been distributed and collected under the supervision of TTRD of the Ministry of Tourism The validity and reliability of these processes are based on the outcomes of discussions with the Egyptian tourism experts and the inter- items statistical correlation indicators The inter-items correlations, according to the results of using SPSS Ver 10, range from 0749 to 0972 for employee satisfaction indicators and from 0601 to 0971 for tourists satisfaction indicators The a value (Cronbach s a coefficient) for the scale of employees satisfaction indicators is and the corrected item total correlation ranges from to For the scale of tourists satisfaction indicators, the alpha value is and the corrected item total correlation ranges from to In both two cases the value of alpha is above and the range of corrected item total correlation is greater than So the scale of satisfaction indicators that both two cases can be considered reliable with the two chosen samples (Pallant, 2001) However, there is a number of limitations which faced this research as follows: the sample size is small, compared with the size of total population, that was reflected on the level of reliability of the research results; and the limited time allowed to the respondents was reflected on the validity of the research outcomes, because they are interviewed at the last time of their journey by the time they are ready for departure The internal customer satisfaction For achieving this task there were 500 questionnaires which have been distributed among employees and managers from 50 tourist companies based on a random technique The internal customer satisfaction is measured as follows The mean of employees satisfaction indicators Table II demonstrates the statistical mean of employees satisfaction indicators It is clear that the statistical mean of the internal customer satisfaction indicators ranges from 24 to 37 The location of this range is between the scale of agree and the scale of neither agree nor disagree with standard deviation that ranges from to This result indicates that the level of the internal customer satisfaction is still less than the accepted level from the view points of employee Tourism services quality in Egypt 483

16 BIJ 13,4 484 Table II Internal customer satisfaction indicators descriptive statistics Items/the employee opinions Mean a deviation Std A Tourism organization management attitudes towards quality 1 Tourism company/destination attention is focused on meeting customer quality requirements Management leads the way in disseminating TQM values throughout the organization structure Employees are asked and empowered to continuously improve all key business processes Management nurtures a flexible and responsive corporate culture Management systems support fact-based decision making Partnerships with suppliers improve tourism product or service quality B The health of tourism business environment 7 Employees are involved in the strategic planning process, providing its inputs as well as developing appropriate plans to support the organisation s short- and long-term objectives and goals Human resources, HR, planning is proactive rather than reactive, covering all key issues including recruitment, retention, training and development, leadership succession, employee participation, recognition and reward, management-labour relations and employee satisfaction The Tourism organization/destination has a wide variety of mechanisms to encourage employee participation at all levels, promote teamwork and tap on the innovative potential of its employees C Offering suitable opportunities for training and a fair mechanism for performance measurements 10 The tourism organization/destination has a systematic approach to identify training and development needs for all levels of employees, taking into account skills requirements and current skills inventory The tourism organization/destination has a systematic approach to assess the effectiveness of training and development undergone by employees The tourism organization/destination has a systematic approach to measure employee satisfaction, obtain feedback from employees, and act on issues arising from such feedback The tourism organization/destination has a fair and effective system to measure employee performance The tourism organization/destination has a wide variety of reward and recognition schemes that support high performance, innovative and creative behaviour, and are linked to the corporate objectives and values The tourism organization/destination regularly evaluates and improves on its HR planning process, employee participation, training and development process, employee satisfaction approach, and recognition and reward systems Note: a Likert scale: 1-5 (strongly disagree-strongly agree) Proportional distribution of responses of employees Table III shows the proportional distribution of responses of employees It is clear from the previous table that the internal customer (employees) satisfaction is weak because the average of satisfaction percentage has ranged from 32 per cent for disagree scale and 12 per cent for strongly disagree, and there is only 28 per cent from the total sample (500 employees) who are satisfied (28 per cent for agree) This result does not compatible with total quality requirements This result is supported by the following criteria: